Experimental study on icing properties of superhydrophobic coatings on insulators

Application of super-hydrophobic coatings is an important approach to improve anti-icing ability of insulators. An approach to fabricate super-hydrophobic coatings on insulators was proposed and based on chemically depositing nano-particles on surfaces with low surface energy. A dual micro- and nano- roughness on the supper-hydrophobic coating was observed through field emission scanning electron microscope (FE-SEM). The water contact angle of the super-hydrophobic surface was (160±0.5)°. Glass specimens with the super-hydrophobic coating and the room temperature vulcanized (RTV) silicone rubber coating respectively and without coating, were installed in a climate chamber for ice accumulation experiments. Ice morphology, ice weight, and AC flashover voltage of the three types of iced specimens were measured during experiments. Experimental and analytical results show that the specimens with superhydrophobic coating had slower ice accumulation and smaller ice weight than the specimens with RTV silicon rubber coating and without coating. The super-hydrophobic coating prevents the formation of continues ice film on specimens and enhances the AC flashover voltages of iced specimens.